but never constructed.
The sesquicentennial celebration of Franklin College was held in October 1937. Student enrollment by then was 800. A commemorative plaque celebrating the sesquicentennial and the signing of the United States Constitution was presented to the college by the Lancaster County Historical Society.
In 1939, the school began an aviation program in the new Keiper Liberal Arts Building. The Aeronautical Laboratory eventually became a government-sponsored flight school with 40 faculty members. Two airplanes were disassembled, moved into the building and reassembled on the third floor as flight simulators.
During World War II, Franklin and Marshall College was one of 131 colleges and universities that adopted the V-12 Navy College Training Program offering students a path to a Navy commission.
By 1945, with most young men in the armed services, the college population dwindled to just under 500 students and 28 faculty members. The end of the war brought an influx of students pursuing degrees under …
